In some systems, data can be optionally logged to a logstream using a system logger versus a traditional method of logging the data to multiple discrete files. When traditional logging is used, multiple discrete files are used, and when one fills up, a switch occurs. The full file is dumped and archived, ensuring that needed data is retained. The process of dumping the file may also clear the file so that it can be reused by the system to write data in the future. What is also provided by dumping the files is a clear demarcation of what data has been archived since each file represents a discrete set of data.
Logstream recording is different in that instead of individual files, there is a continuous stream of data that does not necessarily have a discrete demarcation of the start and end of the data. The logstream is not cleared when dumped; instead the older data is emptied from the logstream as it ages, while new data is added. Rather than being a set of data records, it is more like a queue of records that is emptied from the beginning as more are added to the end. Due to this method of processing, it is up to the archival process to manage which data has been archived.